May's Unfinished Business
by Varockwell99
Summary: May failed to catch Kyogre the first time, and that's been driving her crazy ever since. But now that she's been the champion for a while, she's feeling confident enough to give it another go. Unfortunately between her lack of preparedness and her single-minded obsession, she may have gotten in over her head- Literally. [written as a request]


**This story was written as a request, but the user who requested this story asked to remain anonymous. This story generally isn't my style, which is why I didn't post it on my main account.**

* * *

You ever have an itch that you really, really want to scratch, but can't quite reach, or your hands are going something else so you can't? Well that's how May has been feeling lately.

By all accounts, her life was rapidly going uphill. She only got her first Pokemon fairly recently, and already she had not only defeated all the Gym Leaders in the Hoenn region, but also dethroned the Hoenn League Champion, Steven Stone, AND she had played a crucial part in taking down the criminal group of extremist environmentalist Team Aqua. She was feeling pretty good about herself overall.

And yet.

There was one unresolved problem that had been nagging at her for a while.

Team Aqua's plan had been to raise the ocean level by harnessing the power of Kyogre, an ancient, legendary Pokemon from the deep. Their logic was that since the ocean was the birthplace of all life, more ocean would result in an explosion of new life. The human casualties didn't seem to matter to them until they finally DID unleash Kyogre's power and realized what their plan entailed.

May had been there to stop their plans, and she managed to battle Kyogre until it calmed down.

Here's where the itch started.

She wanted to catch it. She really, REALLY wanted to catch it. However, every single Pokeball she used failed. ...well okay, she still had that Master Ball but she was saving it. She heard rumors of a Pokemon from space that came to Earth in a meteor, and she was saving it for that.

She managed to subdue the Pokemon anyway and put a stop to the flooding and storms, but Kyogre disappeared somewhere. May was glad Hoenn was saved from being completely underwater, but even as she was inducted into the Hall of Fame, in the back of her mind she knew she had unfinished business.

Well, it's been long enough and she couldn't take it anymore.

May was going to catch Kyogre if it was the last thing she'd do.

She knew where to start looking, too. That seafloor cave near Sootopolis was its home, and even if she didn't find it there, there was no doubt she'd find some sort of clue or trail to follow.

May still had in her possession the Blue Orb, taken from Mt. Pyre during the whole Team Aqua fiasco. Team Aqua had attempted to use its counterpart the Red Orb to wake it up, to catastrophic results. May would need the Blue Orb to wake it up properly.

Now it was time to start preparing for a little dive.

May opened her closet and began rifling around for her wetsuit, along with the rest of her diving gear, which she got as a gift when she first obtained the HM Dive.

She rummaged through everything. She pulled out a rebreather, which she set aside, as she'd probably need it. She went back into it, growing increasingly frustrated as the wetsuit didn't seem to be there. _Where the heck could it have gone to?_

_Hey wait, _she realized. _Didn't I- _her eyes widened and she slapped her forehead. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten it so easily.

* * *

"_I've never seen a Pokemon like that before!" Roxanne, the Rock-type Gym Leader of Rustboro said with a wide smile on her face as May's Relicanth swam around near the shore north of the city. "You say the species survived, unchanged for millions of years?"_

"_Seems that way," May replied. "I figured you'd wanna see it, you being a scholar on Rock-types and all." She paused, then added "I'll let you borrow it for a bit if you want to study it."_

_Roxanne shook her head. "No, I'd much rather catch my own."_

_May nodded. "All right. I'd be more than willing to loan you some of my gear though. The wetsuit is one size fits all, it should work for you."_

_Roxanne smiled. "Sounds good!"_

* * *

May wanted to bang her head against the wall. _Of all the- _the rational part of her mind kicked in, suggesting that she put off her little investigation until Roxanne came back from her own expedition.

_You can't! _Yelled the other part of her brain, the part that had clearly been reading too much Moby Dick. _What if it wakes up and goes somewhere else?_

May knew that was dumb, but at the same time, she had built up a lot of momentum. The anticipation was starting to get to her. She couldn't just drop it right now!

_I'm set for breathing, but I'm short one wetsuit. _She pondered, crossing her arms over her chest. _So what to do about that?_

She turned her gaze to her bed, where she had thrown some of her other clothes onto while she was looking through the closet, and noticed that there were a couple of swimsuits in the pile of discarded clothing.

_No. Absolutely not. That's a dumb, DUMB idea. You can't just throw on some random bikini and dive hundreds of feet below sea level!_

_...That's exactly what I'm going to do, isn't it._

May sighed. She hated the way her brain worked sometimes.

It took May a few minutes to sort through the swimsuits that were actually meant for swimming, and separate them from the ones that were just meant for sitting around the pool looking pretty.

In the end she decided she had WAY too many swimsuits.

After casting aside ones that were either impractical for swimming or too likely to come off by accident, May finally decided on a simple red bikini, with a pink trim around the waist and the edges of the top.

She smiled a bit as she tried it on and admired herself in the mirror. _I guess this'll work. _With the preparations now complete, she put on her normal clothes over the swimsuit, grabbed her yellow bag, and went outside.

Her battle plan was as follows: she'd bring along her entire team from the championship fight, just in case, but she doubted they'd all come in handy. Blaziken had never let her down before but he wouldn't be much of a help at the bottom of the ocean.

No, she'd be relying mostly on her Magneton and her Ludicolo. Magneton was an obvious choice- not only was it part Electric-type, but it didn't need to breathe, which was incredibly helpful.

Second was Ludicolo. She needed a Water-type anyway to use Dive and bring her to wherever Kyogre was hiding, but Ludicolo being part Grass-type meant it would be a huge help in the fight as well.

Talking out a Pokeball, she brought out her Skarmory. The Steel-type bird looked at her curiously.

"I'm going after Kyogre again," she explained. "Can you give me a lift to Sootopolis?"

In response, Skarmory lowered itself so May could climb on. She held on tight and Skarmory took off, flying into the air before disappearing into the sky.

* * *

The rebreather was securely fastened in her mouth as she descended deeper into the water, holding on to Ludicolo for dear life as it used Dive. You couldn't live in Hoenn if you couldn't learn to love the water, and May definitely did.

It was a hot summer day, so not only was the water slightly warmer than normal, but it was also incredibly refreshing compared to the sweltering heat above. May started to be thankful for her choice of attire, as the water against her bare skin felt rather pleasant.

Eventually they arrived at the cave where May had previously encountered Kyogre and May had to restrain herself from cheering when she did indeed see the sleeping form of the giant primal whale, as she didn't want to risk dropping her only means of breathing.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the Blue Orb. It began glowing and the massive Pokemon began to stir. May grinned. It was finally her second chance to take it on and catch it.

Kyogre ascended from the floor of the cavern where it had been sleeping and stared at the trainer who had brought the orb.

May was just about to send out Magneton when, without warning, Kyogre roared and sent a strong current of water directly at her, pushing her and Ludicolo away from it and smacking into the wall of the cave.

The impact dislodged the rebreather from May's mouth. She had been dazed for a moment, but quickly held her breath and began scrambling for the rebreather. After a couple frantic seconds she grabbed ahold of it and shoved it into her mouth, taking a couple breaths.

It was then that she noticed Kyogre was gone.

_You blew it, _she thought to herself as her shoulders sagged. Turning towards Ludicolo (who was also disoriented from Kyogre's attack) she gestured her thumb up towards the entrance to the cave, signaling it was time for them to surface.

* * *

When they surfaced, May immediately noticed to her shock that it was raining. Her eyes widened, briefly wondering if she had inadvertently restarted the massive downpour that nearly ended Hoenn, but as she quickly put her clothes back on over her swimsuit, she was surprised to see the rain clear up almost immediately.

It wasn't as simple as that, though. The rain was still going strong just a few meters away, but the difference between where she was standing and the rain nearby was night and day. It was as if the rain had become a wall of water that was moving away from her.

May had the beginnings of a plan. But first…

"Skarmory, take us to Mossdeep."

* * *

She decided to drop by Mossdeep to get a more reliable air tank. Not a full-sized scuba tank, but a smaller one that would be lighter and easier to carry, even if it didn't last as long. She couldn't just rely on the rebreather anymore, since she had expended it on that first dive. It was only really meant as a last resort, after all, she just had to make do with it since Roxanne was using her own diving gear.

Once that was taken care of, she figured it was time to follow the trail of rain. She pulled out her PokeNav and typed in a number, then waited as it rang.

"_You've reached the Fortree Weather Institute. How can I help you?"_

It wasn't hard for May to get the information she needed. Even without the clout of being champion, but her exploits with Team Aqua were fairly common knowledge, even if the specifics were a mystery.

All she needed was a report on a freak rainstorm that started near Sootopolis and moved onward. And she was informed that it headed south, then west, then south again until it just stopped on an island a couple miles south of Pacifidlog.

_Bingo._

She hopped on Skarmory and they took off in that direction. The hunt for Kyogre was officially on again.

* * *

In hindsight, chasing down a Pokemon that nearly flooded the entire region, she should've expected there to be storming there, but even then the weather was worse than anything she could've anticipated. The waves were towers of water, crashing down with the force of a Hyper Beam. The rain was so dense one could hardly see two feet ahead. The wind was enough to send an airliner hurtling out of control.

So the girl riding on a bird made of metal didn't stand a chance.

No matter how aerodynamic Skarmory might've been, it might as well have been a paper airplane for how strong the wind was.

"We gotta keep going!" May shouted over the wind. "Kyogre's here! I know it!"

Skarmory strained itself to keep itself flying steady but finally, the wind proved too much for the Steel/Flying-type and it- and May- began to plummet.

May's eyes widened as they rapidly lost altitude. _Oh no! If Skarmory hits the water it'll sink, without a doubt!_

Acting quickly, May grabbed its Pokeball mid-fall and recalled Skarmory, leaving herself in free fall. She quickly put the ball back in her bag, fastened the bag shut, took a deep breath, and straightened her legs as she hit the water.

May plunged into the water like a torpedo. As she lost momentum, she suddenly realized the impact on the later separated her from the bag. Starting to panic, and cheeks still puffed from holding her breath, she spotted it floating in the water above her.

She began swimming up towards it but the current was relentless. It felt as though she was stuck in place. Her lungs were starting to burn.

Then she remembered that she was still fully clothed. Wanting to make herself as light and unencumbered as possible, she quickly took her jacket and shorts off, then her shoes, until she was left in her bikini. Suddenly she was glad to have been wearing it under her clothes the whole time. Now that she could move more freely, she once again made for the surface.

She was actually making progress now, but it was slow. Her cheeks bulged, bubbles starting to escape from her sealed lips as she exhaled to relieve the growing pressure in her chest.

_C'mon… just a little bit more… if I can just get to Ludicolo I can have it use Surf and get to safety!_

Finally she broke the surface, almost resembling a mermaid doing so, and took a deep breath, letting that sweet, sweet oxygen flow back into her lungs. She began swimming to her bag but that was when she noticed a growing shadow over her.

May turned to look behind her and paled as she saw a massive wave, the likes of which she had never seen, about to come down on her.

_No no nononononono-_

May frantically tried to escape, but nature was having none of that. The wave crashed down on top of her, sending her tumbling downwards, the impact knocking some of the air out of her lungs. She had no idea which way was up and she didn't even get the chance to take that deep a breath.

She regained her bearings and frantically began swimming up, but she had lost too much air on her descent. May couldn't keep the burning of her lungs at bay for long, and brought one hand up to cover her mouth as she swam but to no avail.

Her remaining air escaped her in a burst of bubbles, despite her best efforts to keep her mouth covered. May's eyes widened, then started to unfocus as she stopped her frantic mad dash to the surface and started to sink.

May could only look up helplessly as the surface grew darker and more distant, and finally she shut her eyes and let the darkness take her.

* * *

The sky was clear as day when she awoke. After groggily regaining consciousness, it took a moment for the day's previous events to catch up with her, and her eyes widened as she suddenly realized where she was.

She was on a small rocky island in the middle of the ocean. The sun was setting, meaning she'd been here for a while. She looked around to get a sense of where she was, but didn't see any land. Just ocean in all directions.

_All right, I can probably work this out,_ she thought, trying to keep herself from panicking._ I just gotta call out Ludicolo and…_

_...where's my bag?_

_...WHERE ARE MY POKEMON?_

May panicked, realizing that she had been chasing after her bag- which contained all of her supplies and Pokemon- when she nearly drowned. She started to hyperventilate, feeling well and truly alone.

It was then that she felt something cold and hard bump into her leg. She looked down and, to her astonishment, there was the Blue Orb.

She picked it up and held it, trying to figure out how it had got here. She thought she had it safely stowed in her bag, so how did-

Her eyes widened.

She whipped her head around and saw, in the distance, another massive storm.

_Kyogre._

She looked down at the orb in her hands. _Kyogre must've brought me here and left me with the orb. No idea why, though. Some kind of test, maybe? If Kyogre could get this out of my bag, then it must have my bag, and my Pokemon!_

"Besides, this is all my fault," she said, vocalizing her thoughts. "My Pokemon are lost somewhere in that storm because of my obsession with catching that thing. I don't care about Kyogre anymore… I just gotta save them."

With Blue Orb in hand, she dove into the water and swam directly towards the storm.

* * *

Now, May was a strong swimmer. This was the Hoenn region, after all, dealing with water was basically a requirement of living here. However, one isn't just at full strength after nearly drowning in a storm, so she wasn't going as fast as she would have been, had she been at 100%. Furthermore she also had to swim with one hand holding the Blue Orb. She was still wearing that red bikini so she didn't have anywhere she could stow it. So her holding the orb kind of threw her off.

But she pressed on. It felt like she was no closer to the storm than when she started, but she didn't let that discourage her. She couldn't let herself be discouraged. Her Pokemon needed help.

She swam. She swam and she swam and she swam for what felt like hours until the fatigue and soreness were too much to ignore.

May fought to keep her head above water, pushing herself to go on, but she was spent. Her head slipped under the water and she began to sink.

She weakly floundered about, bubbles escaping her lips as she once again attempted to hold her breath.

_No…! This isn't how it's supposed to end!_

Suddenly the Blue Orb began glowing softly. May took note of it, wondering what it could mean. It was then that she became conscious of a massive shadow below her. It was distinctly-shaped with its two massive fins visible.

_Kyogre. But why…?_

Her mouth opened in shock and awe, air escaping as a result. The shadow rose up to meet her (or maybe she was still sinking) and May's world went dark a second time.

* * *

She stirred from her sleep after nearly drowning a second time in one day. She again felt rough rocks against her bare back, but this time it was dark. May thought it was night at first, but the air didn't taste right to her.

Her eyes adjusted and she realized where she was.

_I'm in a cave of some kind._

Looking around the cave was small, with the only exit being what looked like a pool of water. It looked to her like this was an air pocket of some kind in a larger underwater cavern.

_Kyogre must've brought me here._

May was continuing to observe her surroundings when she looked down and her heart nearly burst out of her chest when she saw her bag. She rifled through it, and her relief could not have been overstated.

_My Pokemon, the air tank, the empty Ultra Balls I was going to catch Kyogre with… its all here!_

Maybe she'd finally get to catch Kyogre after all!

She shook her head. _No, me wanting to catch Kyogre was what got me in this situation in the first place._

She pulled out one of her Pokeballs and out came Ludicolo.

May couldn't help but let out an involuntary laugh out of relief. "You're a sight for sore eyes, you know that?"

She brought the Grass/Water-type up to speed on the situation, and their priority was to get out of this cave.

And if they happened to encounter Kyogre, well… maybe she'd catch it after all.

May fastened the air tank to her back, the tank cold against her skin. She was _really _wishing she'd waited for Roxanne to give her wetsuit back now. She fastened her bag to her and held on to Ludicolo as the two of them stepped into that pool of water.

"All right. Ludicolo… use Dive!"

* * *

When they submerged, they found themselves in a tunnel. It was unnaturally round and smooth, and just large enough that Kyogre would be able to swim through it. _Was this man made? Or did Kyogre do this?_ Taking a deep breath from the tank to calm herself, she and Ludicolo pressed on.

After a minute or so of the tunnel they came to a fork in the path. The tunnel now went right or left.

May considered her options, then pointed left. She and Ludicolo went in that direction. From here the tunnel was no longer a straight shot, instead turning right and dipping down and swerving left.

The two of them emerged into a large, round chamber. There was a ceiling, and there were no other exits, so the surface must have been down the other side of that fork.

May just had to stick around though, because embedded in the walls of this room were sapphires. The blue crystals were everywhere on the walls, giving off a soft blue glow that May found quite beautiful. She wished she brought a camera.

But there was one other thing in this chamber: Kyogre.

The legendary fish was eyeing her, not making any moves yet. May slowly took the bag off her shoulders, reached in, and pulled out the Ultra a Ball she kept Magneton in.

In a flash of red light, Magneton emerged. It was not totally surprised to be underwater, as May had gone over the battle plan previously before they left home.

May looked at Magneton, moved her hands in an arc to form a circle and pointed at Kyogre. Then she turned her gaze to Ludicolo, formed a circle with her right thumb and forefinger and moved her finger in an arc towards Kyogre.

She was signaling for Magneton to open with Thunder Wave and for Ludicolo to use Leech Seed. The two of them got the message and nodded.

Kyogre began to let out a low roar. Magneton and Ludicolo positioned themselves protectively in front of May.

Kyogre let out a Hydro Pump but May and her Pokemon managed to avoid it in time. Magneton hovered above Kyogre while Ludicolo swam beneath, and the two of them launched their attacks.

A yellow circular wave of sparking energy shot from Magneton's magnets and landed a solid hit on Kyogre. Ludicolo shot a few seeds at Kyogre that burst into what looked like roots, or maybe weeds, that attached themselves to Kyogre, weakening it.

Kyogre retaliated by using Whirlpool, spinning around in a stationary barrel roll that spun the water in the chamber like it was a washing machine. May desperately held on to her bag, keeping her teeth firmly biting down on her air hose.

Magneton was the first to recover from the dizziness and let loose Shock Wave. A wave of electricity arced through the water and homed in on Kyogre, shocking it.

Next was Ludicolo's turn. It held out its hand towards where Leech Seed had landed and used Giga Drain, calling a wave of green particles from the seeds towards itself, draining Kyogre's stamina.

May pumped her fist and pulled out an empty Ultra Ball. She threw it at Kyogre and the light from the ball enveloped Kyogre, dragging it inside. The ball snapped shut and began to slowly sink to the chamber's floor.

It hadn't even touched down yet when it suddenly broke open, and Kyogre suddenly reappeared.

The sudden reappearance of the massive Water Pokemon sent out a shock wave as the water around it was displaced, sending May rocketing backwards, as she was much lighter than Ludicolo or Magneton.

She slammed against the wall of the cave, though she herself wasn't too hurt thanks to the metal air tank on her back taking the impact.

Ludicolo was about to ready another Giga Drain when a Kyogre let loose an Ice Beam, which shot through the water like a white, frosty bullet and hit Ludicolo dead-on, knocking it out instantly.

May grunted in frustration, but then became conscious of a trail of bubbles that was erupting from behind her.

_No… nonononono!_

May's eyes widened in panic as she realized that when she had been thrown against the wall of the cave, her air tank had ruptured.

_Yeah, I think Kyogre's won. I need to get out of here._

She withdrew Magneton, but when she saw the unconscious Ludicolo her panic increased tenfold.

Ludicolo was her ride. She relied on its swift swimming and was counting on it to bail her out in a situation like this. Bringing her most reliable water Pokemon into the fight proved to be a massive miscalculation on her part. And now it was going to cost her.

She turned around and swam frantically for the tunnel after recalling Ludicolo, leaving the seeded, electrically shocked Kyogre behind.

She swam as fast as she could down the twisted tunnel, but was only about halfway through when her air hose read that the air was very nearly depleted.

Taking one last, deep breath, May discarded the broken air tank, and was left to escape the cave and reach the surface tugging her bag behind her.

Her cheeks puffed, she reached where the fork in the cave was, swimming straight ahead to take the route she didn't before. A couple bubbles escape from her nose.

Mercifully this end of the tunnel wasn't as twisty and turny as the previous one, but May's chest began to feel the pressure. May exhaled some bubbles to relieve that pressure but wound up breathing out more than she wanted. Clasping her right hand to her mouth, she pressed on.

Her chest was burning, her heart was beating out of her chest, and her cheeks were beginning to turn as red as her swimsuit. It didn't help that she was hauling her bag, adding extra weight and throwing off her balance. She let out a soft moan.

Finally she saw the entrance of the cave and swam out of it. She looked up to begin her ascent but her eyes widened when she saw just how deep underwater the cave really was.

It would take her about two minutes to surface from here. She could hold her breath for a minute and a half at most. And she had already been holding it in for a little over a minute.

Intimidated by the gulf between her and her next breath, May's resolve gave out. She unconsciously expelled all her air in a torrent of bubbles as her shoulders slumped in defeat.

She felt herself sinking. _Can't count on Kyogre to bail me out again, _she thought. _Not after I had Magneton electrocute it like that._

Her world went dark for the third time as she saw a shadow suddenly appear.

_Is that… Kyogre?_

_Nah, it's probably just the oxygen deprivation playing tricks on me._

_Oh well._

* * *

The next thing May knew, she was coughing up buckets of salt water. She was on an island, which was covered in sand as opposed to being all rocks. Had she not been recovering from the third near-drowning in one day she might have realized this was the island that sapphire cave was under.

The sun was high in the sky, which was odd, since last time May had been outside it was sunset. _I've been out to sea for a pretty long time, haven't I?_

She took a few deep breaths and looked out to the sea, and froze when, sitting just a few feet from shore, was Kyogre.

It was just floating there, not making any moves, its eyes fixed on May.

Cautiously, May stepped towards the Pokemon, stepping into the shallow water on the beach. She looked into one of its eyes and for a moment it felt like she could hear a voice.

_You have shown resolve and endurance in tracking me down. You proved once again your team could take me in a battle, and your determination to save them from me is the sign of a pure heart._

_You have won my respect. I accept you as my trainer._

May blinked, wondering where that had come from. But again, Kyogre looked calm. Serene, even.

May cautiously took an empty Ultra Ball from her bag and held it in front of her, where Kyogre could clearly see it.

It didn't budge.

May couldn't contain the stupid grin that broke out on her face. She didn't even throw the ball at Kyogre, she simply held the ball on her hand and pulled Kyogre into it, like a trainer would recall one of their own Pokemon.

The Pokeball clicked shut. A few seconds passed and May let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she heard the most wonderful sound any trainer could hear when they just put a Legendary Pokemon into a Pokeball.

_Click._

She heard beeping coming from her bag, indicating her Pokedex had auto-updated with the new data transferred from the ball. (She was also surprised that the thing even still worked after this whole adventure.)

Overcome with relief, both that she and her team were alive AND she had finally gotten the closure she needed, May fell backwards onto the sandy shore. Smiling contentedly, she decided that after spending a day and a half either swimming or drowning, she deserved a vacation, and maybe some sleep that WASN'T brought upon by nearly drowning.

She was already on a beach and already in a bikini, after all, so she might as well relax and catch some rays.

She laid down on her back, resting her hands under the back of her head, and feeling the warm, soft sand underneath her, drifted off to a contented sleep beneath the sun.


End file.
